I have
almost come to dread running into Jana Reiss’s blog posts because they are so
inept and activist for modern progressive/liberal propaganda. I don’t know what
missionaries taught her the discussions/Preach My Gospel, but either
they did one lousy job, or she didn’t listen, and instead got her “gospel”
knowledge from internet dissidents and our severely troubled society at large.
These
erroneous sources of information have enabled her to misunderstand and misstate
most everything she muses or complains about in her aptly named “flunking” blog.
Perhaps she knows she is clueless about what she writes; I don’t know. Yet she
does have the modern misinformed activists agenda, and that keeps her from gaining
any improvement or enlightenment regarding gospel subjects.
She
recently criticized President Dallin H. Oaks, pitting her false understanding
of the gospel against his
correct teachings in General Conference. The result is that she looks like
a fool with a third-grade level of competence. (I sometimes wonder why someone
so poorly informed feels to open her mouth and remove all doubt.)
First
example, she writes: “What I think Oaks was trying to communicate is that it is
our task as members of the church to balance the love of neighbor with the love
of God, which he equated with obedience to God’s commandments.” She didn’t like
that equation, even though Jesus did: “If ye love me, keep my commandments”
(John 14:15). So Jesus taught it, President Oaks affirmed it, but Jana rejects
it. Her choice, her consequences, which she then seeks for herself.
“I am
frustrated by the single-mindedness of many of Oaks’ recent talks and remarks,”
she says. “And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory
of God, qualify him for the work: (D&C 4:5), is what the Lord said, “And if
your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light,
and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light
comprehendeth all things” (D&C 88:67). Seems Jana’s eye is single to LGBT
activism, while Pres. Oaks eye is single to the glory of God. Each will earn a
reward for what they single-mindedly pursue and teach and do.
Jana’s
erroneous interpretation ensues: “Implicit in this particular talk is the
notion that there is no Celestial Kingdom possible for LGBTQ Saints who do not
renounce this core part of their identity.” There is no Celestial Kingdom for
unrepentant non-covenant making and keeping “Saints.” If LGBT members keep the
commandments, including the law of chastity, they are promised the same
exaltation as anyone else that obeys the gospel. If they sin willfully and do
not repent and overcome the flesh/world, they will end up elsewhere, same as
anyone else that rejects the gospel.
Much of the
rest of Jana’s blog is whining about Pres. Oaks’ talk because of how she
herself feels about it, which I won’t requote here. But her conclusion is
appalling and I hope no one is foolish enough to take it for a guide in their
own lives: “So here’s my take and my promise. I do not believe, as Oaks said,
that our ultimate concern in life is to make it to the Celestial Kingdom. We
are Christians, and our ultimate concern should be to follow the teachings and
example of Christ. My own exaltation is not of great importance to anyone else
except to me and my family … and that’s a lot of eternal focus on 'me' and 'my'
that Jesus never spoke about in the Scriptures.” Jana just rejected and
misinterpreted the scriptures. She states she doesn’t believe Pres. Oaks’
teachings to the Church in General Conference; she states she doesn’t believe
D&C 76; she gives her own (false) definition of what being a Christian is,
but then misstates what Christ taught, completely forgetting about His great
Intercessory Prayer (John 17) where He refutes Jana’s false claims and beliefs.
Her
conclusion: “If I am so fortunate as to return to be with my Heavenly Parents
and their son for all of eternity, that would be great cause for rejoicing. But
it would be hollow and incomplete without the company of my LGBTQ brothers and
sisters who have been knocked down, misunderstood and consigned to second-class
status.” So it would be nice to be with God in heaven, but not without gay
people—she again purposely forgets to indicate whether they are willfully practicing
their sinful lifestyle or not, which is the real issue—and then she assigns
herself to where she may well end up: “If they don’t get to sit at the front of
the bus to the Celestial Kingdom, I’ll gladly hang out with them in the
terrestrial. Or wherever else. And that, to me, is the gospel.”
I am so very
glad that her skewed gospel is not the true gospel of Jesus Christ, where if we
love Him we keep His commandments. Since Jana wants to go to the Terrestrial or
Telestial Kingdoms, I am sure the Lord will accommodate her come judgment day,
and she can feel like a self-righteous activist and Christian for all eternity,
cut off from the presence of the God whom Pres. Oaks knows and teaches and
testifies of, but whom she obviously does not know, and whose teachings she has
wrong.
Regarding
Jana, and Peggy Stack (the LGBT activist Salt Lake Tribune religion
reporter) and others of their ilk, who seek to foist their error on others, Elder
M. Russell Ballard has said: “Therefore, let us beware of false prophets
and false teachers, both men and women, who are self-appointed
declarers of the doctrines of the Church and who seek to spread their false
gospel and attract followers by sponsoring symposia, books, and journals [and
blogs] whose contents challenge fundamental doctrines of the Church. Beware
of those who speak and publish in opposition to God’s true prophets and who actively
proselyte others with reckless disregard for the eternal well-being of those
whom they seduce. Like Nehor and Korihor in the Book of Mormon, they rely
on sophistry to deceive and entice others to their views. They “set
themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of
the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion” (2 Ne.
26:29).”
Talk about
being prophetic! President Ballard (and President Oaks) know exactly what they
are talking about, and exactly Whom they are speaking for. Jana’s version of
Christianity and the gospel may well get her exactly what she asks for and she
is welcome to it, while those who follow the prophets and believe and obey the
true gospel will get so very much more.
On a side
note, I notice that the Salt Lake Tribune often reprints Jana’s specious
musings. While it may be one thing to run alleged negative news stories about
the Church, it is quite another to repost pure opinion blogs that criticize and
slander the teachings of a prophet of God. Surely Peter Huntsman, the current
owner of that critical newspaper, will one day bear accountability for what he
permits to be printed/posted therein. That fact hasn’t stopped him from
allowing Peggy Stack to use that paper for her personal liberal activist agenda
either. Too bad. I wouldn’t want to be any of them come judgment day. Of
course, I don’t want Terrestrial glory in the resurrection like Jana desires.
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